{"id":5609,"date":"2026-03-23T02:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/vinicius-strikes-twice-as-real-madrid-edge-atletico-3-2-in-pulsating-derby\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T02:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:35:22","slug":"vinicius-strikes-twice-as-real-madrid-edge-atletico-3-2-in-pulsating-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/vinicius-strikes-twice-as-real-madrid-edge-atletico-3-2-in-pulsating-derby\/","title":{"rendered":"Vinicius strikes twice as Real Madrid edge Atletico 3-2 in pulsating derby"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Real stay within four points of league leaders Barcelona with hard-fought win in Madrid derby.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Vinicius Jr scored \u2060twice \u2060as Real Madrid fought back to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/liveblog\/2026\/3\/22\/live-real-madrid-vs-atletico-madrid-la-liga\">beat Atletico Madrid 3-2<\/a> in \u2060a breathless Spanish capital derby on Sunday, keeping Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s side \u2060within four points of La Liga leaders Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>Atletico\u2019s Ademola Lookman opened the scoring in the 33rd minute on Sunday, finishing a slick \u200ccounterattack involving Matteo Ruggeri and a delightful back-heel from Giuliano Simeone.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/3\/20\/fifas-gianni-infantino-seemingly-changes-course-on-peace-efforts\">FIFA\u2019s Gianni Infantino seemingly changes course on peace efforts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/20\/iran-footballer-azmoun-kicked-off-national-team-for-disloyalty-say-reports\">Iran footballer Azmoun kicked off national team for disloyalty, say reports<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/19\/senegal-and-morocco-tied-by-religion-and-trade-but-divided-by-afcon-fallout\">Senegal and Morocco tied by religion and trade but divided by AFCON fallout<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/19\/fifa-details-infantinos-6m-deal-with-33-club-world-cup-bonus-increase\">FIFA details Infantino\u2019s $6m deal with 33% Club World Cup bonus increase<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Vinicius equalised from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute, after David Hancko clumsily tripped Brahim Diaz, and Federico \u2060Valverde capitalised on a \u2060Jose Maria Gimenez error three minutes later to make it 2-1 to Real.<\/p>\n<p>Nahuel Molina silenced Real\u2019s \u2060Bernabeu stadium with a thunderous 30-metre strike in \u2060the 66th minute, but \u2060Vinicius restored Real\u2019s lead with a cracking solo effort six minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>Valverde then saw red \u200cfor an inexplicable challenge on Alex Baena, and Julian Alvarez struck the \u200cpost \u200cas Atletico pressed, but Real held firm.<\/p>\n<p>Arbeloa praised his side for showing \u201cpure Real Madrid mentality\u201d to emerge with a difficult win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in a good moment. It wasn\u2019t an easy match at all. The opponent made it very difficult for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had to show a very strong mentality. They equalised again, fiercely, and we had to press again. That\u2019s what I liked the most \u2013 the mentality of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone said his side deserved to come away with more from the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could have defended their goals better and done more in attack,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re facing teams that play well, and if you give them anything, they\u2019ll hurt you. We deserved more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Sunday, Barcelona edged Rayo Vallecano 1-0 as Ronald Araujo headed in the winner in the 24th minute at Camp Nou, and Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia\u2019s impressive performance showed why he is most likely heading to the World Cup with Spain.<\/p>\n<p>Araujo jumped over his marker and scored after Joao Cancelo\u2019s corner to the far post.<\/p>\n<p>Raphinha came close to also scoring for the hosts on three occasions in the first half. He shot wide on the break, forced goalkeeper Augusto Batalla to tip a shot over the bar, and hit the woodwork shortly after Araujo\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia saved a shot by Carlos Martin in the game\u2019s opening minute, blocked Unai Lopez\u2019s header early in the second half, and got just enough on a low strike from Jorge de Frutos in the final moments to push it wide.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia was included in Spain\u2019s squad for the first time on Friday, ahead of two friendly matches which will serve as warmups for this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere on Sunday, Alaves achieved one of the club\u2019s most memorable wins after it erased a three-goal deficit at Celta Vigo to secure a 4-3 victory. The stunning result lifted Alaves out of the relegation zone.<\/p>\n<p>In Bilbao, Dani Vivian and Oihan Sancet scored to give Athletic a 2-1 win over Real Betis in the first match since Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde said he would leave the Basque club at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real stay within four points of league leaders Barcelona with hard-fought win in Madrid derby. Vinicius Jr scored \u2060twice \u2060as Real Madrid fought back to beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 in \u2060a breathless Spanish capital derby on Sunday, keeping Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s side \u2060within four points of La Liga leaders Barcelona. Atletico\u2019s Ademola Lookman opened the scoring &#8230; <a title=\"Vinicius strikes twice as Real Madrid edge Atletico 3-2 in pulsating derby\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/vinicius-strikes-twice-as-real-madrid-edge-atletico-3-2-in-pulsating-derby\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Vinicius strikes twice as Real Madrid edge Atletico 3-2 in pulsating derby\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}